Chapter 3: Daddy

Arrogant, mother-freaking ass always carrying his shoulders high like he was permanently short of breath, standing ten feet tall on nothing but ego, and guts thicker than a vault door.

After I slapped it straight to his face that I didn’t need someone like him, he had the nerve to smile, totally unbothered, as if my words bounced off his skin without leaving a mark.

What did I even expect from a thick-faced, numb bastard? Nothing I ever said mattered to him. It never did.

“Ma’am, your card isn’t working,” the cashier winced, sliding my credit card back toward me like it carried bad luck.

And just like that, my world began to crumble.

Why? Why now?

Out of all the times I struggled with money, this freaking card chose this exact moment to humiliate me?

“What?!” I exclaimed, stealing a few curious stares from nearby shoppers.

“I’m afraid that—”

“Try it again,” I cut in, shoving the card back across the counter. “It was working this morning.”

My fingers trembled. Another mental breakdown queued up nicely for today because of course I didn’t have a single bill of cold cash in my wallet.

Then, like some cursed miracle bathed in sin, a sleek black card appeared beside mine.

Paid. Instantly.

I snapped my head toward him and threw him a glare sharp enough to murder him.

“Excuse me—who the heck are you?” I snapped.

“Your tooth fairy,” he joshed, earning a couple of giggles from nearby slutty strangers, his mirthless humor somehow landing anyway like his words were tickling people in their inappropriate places. “Let’s go.”

He took his card back, picked up the paper bag, and dragged me toward the elevator as if he still had the right to touch me and pull me close, to hold me, to pretend tenderness was something he ever deserved—

“Unh!” I grunted, shoving him hard before my body could betray myself and do something unforgivably stupid like humping him right where we were. “I don’t need your help, I don’t need your money, and I already told you not to freaking touch me!”

“Wow,” he mocked, amused. “Way to draw a crowd. You’re really getting good at it.”

He pushed me into the elevator like a trolley, stepped in after me, blocked my exit with his body, and pressed the parking button.

“A little thank-you would’ve been nice.”

I harshly brushed my hair off my face and turned fully toward him. My hands on my hips as I shifted my weight onto my left leg, grounding myself before I barked at him.

This jerk wasn't just testing my nerves, he was poking, prodding, and enjoying every second of it.

“Haven’t it clocked in that thick head of yours that I don’t want to be on the same planet as you?” I snarked.

He didn’t even flinch. He just looked at me like I was a show he’d marked as his all-time favorite.

“What are you going to do about it then?” he drawled, wiggling those damn thick brows once. “It’s a small world.”

He leaned closer.

“And whether you like it or not, from now on, we’re going to be seeing each other more often," he added, and I took it as a threat.

“I think I’ll be blind in less than half an hour,” I sardonically uttered, forcing a bitter laugh. “So no, I don’t think I’ll be seeing you.”

I shook my head.

“I’ve always believed priceless, egotistical men were invisible—especially when the creature’s name is Ricochet Rosewood.” I shuddered theatrically. “Oof. Horrifying.”

The elevator dinged open at the mall’s parking level.

I snatched the paper bag from his hand, shoved him aside with my shoulder, and dusted off my palm like I’d brushed against something filthy.

Ricochet the asshole incarnate just chuckled, clearly entertained, and let me brush past him like he was granting permission that I didn't need.

I sashayed toward my car with pride, only to nearly topple over when my broken heel betrayed me. I caught myself at the last second, wobbling like a drunk ballerina, stitched my confidence back together over my humiliation, and kept walking like nothing happened.

“What are you going to do about it? It’s a small world,” I mocked under my breath, copying his tone in a childish sing-song while pulling a face.

“Small world my ass.”

I climbed into my car and turned the key.

Nothing.

I tried again.

Still nothing.

“Seriously?” I groaned, gripping the steering wheel. “Come on. Don’t do this to me now.”

I held my breath, silently begging the car to cooperate unless I planned on flying home out of embarrassment.

But the shitty engine stayed dead.

“Piece of trash,” I muttered.

Then a kingly beep cut through the air.

Then the luxurious Benz parked beside my car let out a sharp beep.

My head turned in its direction, and there he was, that irritatingly handsome man behind the wheel, revving the engine smoothly, without a single wheeze.

As if he wanted to rub it in my face that he had "everything", he slowly turned toward me and winked.

“Asshole,” I muttered just as his window rolled down.

“Looks like you need a ride,” he said, stating the obvious with a smug calm that made me bite my teeth.

“Not really,” I replied, my fingers still gripping the steering wheel. I kept my eyes straight ahead.

“Adriana would definitely—”

“Fine, fine, fine!” I snarl like a mad chihuahua, grabbing my things and climbing out before I could overthink it.

The moment I slid into his car, I felt contaminated, like I needed to scrub myself a thousand times before I’d be worthy of sitting in something this expensive.

“Just drive,” I added sharply. “And don’t talk to me.”

“Always bossy,” he murmured, pulling smoothly onto the road. “Remember how you used to tell me exactly what you wanted me to do to you?”

I slapped my hands over my ears. “I don’t talk to strangers.”

“But you fuck with them,” he retorted.

I glared at him... deadly.

He just smirked. “What? It’s not a lie. Back then, we weren’t exactly friends. Just two horny teenagers who collided, burned too fast, and somehow made a miracle out of it. We did the fuckery-fuck. Then Adriana."

“You talk about it like it was some great love story.”

“It was,” he proudly uttered. “The only virgin I had. The best fuck of my life. The most beautiful girl in the Academy. And…”

He let out a low hiss and dragged his eyes down to my chest. My nipples hardened instantly under my shirt, stiffening like they still knew the shape of his tongue.

“…the sweetest nipples I ever sucked.”

Heat crept up my neck and onto my cheeks.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “That’s straight up sexual harassment!”

“Not when I know how much you liked it when I talked dirty to you,” he smirked.

He exhaled slowly as he shifted in his seat, his torso lifting just enough to adjust himself. It was such a small movement but it detonated memories I’d spent years burying.

Dirty memories. All sinful ones.

How he liked it when I took control. How he played the dominant bottom and the submissive top without shame. How he craved it rough when we lost all sense and wilded out, breathless and reckless and—

I clenched my jaw and slammed the mental door shut before the past could crawl out completely.

“You really are an asshole,” I uttered under my breath.

“Nah,” he corrected lightly. “You love me.”

“Delusional.”

“Factual.”

“There was no love between us, Ricochet,” I said sharply. “There were signed papers, Adriana, and nothing else.” I glued my eyes to the window, watching traffic paralyzing the streets like it always did.

“That’s not how I remember it.”

I let out a harsh scoff. “Bullshit.” My fingers curled against my thigh. “You only married me because you were a coward. You were scared your parents would cut you off. You knocked up a random girl from school, and instead of being the baseball team’s golden boy, you became a daddy.”

“Adriana’s father,” he said calmly, then smirked. “Or your daddy?”

My neck snapped toward him so fast I nearly strained something.

I knew exactly what he was doing, he picked up a shovel and started digging the past, and I was so certain that he loved every flicker of frustration he was pulling out of me.

“Do you seriously think everything I say is nonsense?”

“Relax, Diana.” His laugh was low, vibrating through his chest. “It’s a beautiful day. Loosen up.”

“Loosen up?” I huffed. “How am I supposed to do that with a walking red flag beside me? It’s a red day today," I sighed, then stiffened when he suddenly took a wrong turn. “Hey—where are we going? Where are you taking me?”

“I’m kidnapping you,” he replied casually, grinning widely.

“You asshole!” I shouted, fumbling for the door handle. “Open this door! Where the heck is the lock? Open this goddamn door!”

“Relax, mommy,” he mused. “We’re going to my building. I’ve got a chopper on the roof. We’re already late for the party. We need to move double time.”

“Asshole,” I muttered, crossing my arms hard.

He parked beneath a skyscraper that could actually scrape the sky and ushered me into the elevator, pressing the rooftop button like he owned the damn place. Well, he did.

I stayed glued to the far corner, keeping as much distance as possible. One wrong inhale and I’d probably break out in hives from his bastard bacteria.

“It’ll only take five minutes by chopper,” he said like he was talking to himself. “I texted Adriana—we’ll be there in twenty.”

I did the math instantly. I wasn’t a genius, but I knew basic subtraction.

“What?”

The elevator jolted as he pressed another button. It stopped abruptly, and I grabbed the wall, panicking.

“Hey—what the hell is happening?”

“Emergency stop,” he smiled, stepping closer. Too close. His body boxed me in. “Fifteen minutes.”

My pulse thundered. "What?" I swallowed.

“That’s all I need,” he murmured, leaning in until it was hard for me to breathe, “to show you how much I missed you.”